Virtual Global Task Force. Media Release

Media release from AFP 9 September, 2011.

The Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT), one of the world's largest international child protection taskforces, met at the INTERPOL General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France this week to explore new techniques to protect children from online sexual abuse.

Experts from all nine international VGT law enforcement agencies were at the two-day meeting (8 - 9 September), which followed a three-day gathering of the INTERPOL specialist group on crimes against children which brought together experts from 52 countries.

Chair of the VGT and Australian Federal Police (AFP) Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan, presented to the specialist group, emphasising that law enforcement can not prosecute its way out of this crime in isolation.

"Part of the answer to combating online child sexual exploitation lies in forging greater international partnerships, particularly cooperation with industry, the private sector and non government organisations.

“Through the Virtual Global Taskforce and our partners we can identify strategies to jointly combat this horrendous crime and bring these predators to justice,” Assistant Commissioner Gaughan said.

One of the highlights of Assistant Commissioner Gaughan’s presentation was the announcement of the VGT draft resolution proposed for the 80th INTERPOL General Assembly in Hanoi, Vietnam later in the year.

The specialist group were briefed on the proposal which derived from the 2010 VGT Conference outcome, to assist and guide countries around the world requiring child protection legislation. The group supported the proposal and acknowledged the work undertaken by the VGT collaboration.

The specialist group throughout the three-day deliberations also addressed the use of Green Notices, an INTERPOL tool developed to assist in the identification of travelling sex offenders, preventing offending around the world.

The issue has previously been raised with the VGT and: ‘under appropriate circumstances the VGT supports the proportionate use of INTERPOL Green Notices for suspected or convicted individuals of child sex offences travelling outside of their home country, giving due considerations to individual legislative and administrative constraints. The VGT further recommends that countries who experience legislative and administrative constraints with the issuance of Green Notices work towards reform that will allow their use.'

New VGT industry partners include The End Child Prostitution Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes network (ECPAT International), International Association of Internet Hotlines (INHOPE), the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) and the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Members of the VGT include the Australian Federal Police, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (UK), the National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Italian Postal and Communication Police Service, INTERPOL, Ministry of Interior for the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand Police and Europol.

The VGT was established in 2003 to fight online child abuse, and aims to dismantle global online child sexual exploitation networks, coordinate covert internet investigations, share and develop intelligence and target child sex offenders.

The VGT website was re-launched in June, streamlining the Report Abuse function, which now allows any person anywhere in the world to report suspected online child abuse by directly linking them to the relevant VGT member agency’s reporting web page or email address. For more information, visit www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com.

Media enquiries

AFP National Media (02) 6131 6333

The VGT aims to make the internet a safer place, identify, locate and help children at risk and hold perpetrators appropriately to account. The Report Abuse button on the VGT website is an effective way to report suspicious online behaviour.

Great Free Advice. Keeping Children Safe Online.

Here is a great site offering free advice via a regular newsletter. You will recieve up to date information about keeping your child safe online.
Your child could be going onto scoial sites like Facebook. So we as parents have to keep an eye on our children and what they are doing online. These social site are a haven for child predators.
For free advice and to be kept up to date with safety online click below to sign up for the regular update. This newsletter will keep those concerned parents on the ball when it come to protecting your child and their online presence and habits. Internet safety newsletter.

Safety on Facebook

Things to do to improve your safety on Facebook.

1. Utilize the limited profile list. This list is a group of Facebook friends who are only allowed to see limited aspects of your profile. To add friends to this list, go to the top of your profile. You’ll see a tab that says “friends.” After you click on that tab, you’ll see a tab under the right entitled “friend lists.” Click on the tab that says “limited profile.” There will be a box to type in the names of friends you would like to add to that list.

2. Change the privacy settings on your profile. You can control just how much of your profile your friends (and people in your networks) can see. When you sign onto Facebook, you will see a set of tabs in the upper right-hand corner. Click on the tab marked “privacy.” Then click on the tab marked “profile.” From there, you will able to limit access to aspects of your profile, such as status updates, photos tagged of you, list of friends and your wall. On each feature, there will be drop-down menu to limit your profile to your networks, friends of friends or friends. From there, you can also customize your privacy settings. You can add individuals by name or add your limited profile list.

3. Change the privacy settings on the search feature. Under the privacy page, there is also a feature marked “search.” From there, you can control who can search for you and how you can be contacted. Under the search feature, there is a drop-down box that lets you decide who can search for you (everyone, networks, friends or friends, or just friends). Additionally, you can adjust your privacy settings for those who can’t see your profile. You can decide who sees your picture and your friends list, who can send you messages and who can add you as a friend.

4. Change the privacy settings on your Facebook applications. To control who sees your Facebook applications, go to the applications column on the left hand side. Click the tab marked “edit.” There, you’ll be taken to the applications menu. From there, you can control who sees each application and whether the application shows up on Facebook news feeds. You can even remove an application, if necessary.

5. Use common sense. There are many reasons to protect your safety on Facebook. Like anywhere on the Internet, you just never know who’s out there and whether they’re lying about who they are. I usually leave my profile open to people in my school network, but I use the privacy settings everywhere else. While Facebook is a valuable way to stay in touch with friends (and to network with new people), it pays to protect your safety. When all else fails, trust your instincts.

Read more: How to Protect Safety on Facebook | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4449033_protect-safety-facebook.html#ixzz1FLEJoMsK


by Tina Molly Lang

Child Protection- 10 Ways you can help

Here is a list of ten things you can do to help with Child protection.

1. First or all you should try to learn more about child protection and child sexual abuse. I will provide links to point you in the right direction later on.

2. Do all you can to prevent predators approaching our children in organisations and on-line.

3. You can raise awareness about child abuse by telling friends family and work colleges. Even send them an email.

4. When overseas, keep your eyes open for foreigners exploiting children. Report them to the local authorities or your embassy.

5. Speak up if you know of a child that is being abused. Give someone a call to people trained in child protection. Like Child Wise

6. Volunteer some of your time to charities supporting child protection.

7. Be diligent with organization, clubs, sporting groups or tutors that have care of your children. Find out more about them. See if the staff or group leaders have the appropriate qualifications or authorization to work with children.

8. Even ask your school or childcare centre about their child safe practices.

9. Remember you have a great network out there. Your websites, social pages like Facebook and those of your friends and colleagues. Spread the word and the information.

10.Distribute the Child Wise “ Don’t let child abuse travel” postcards throughout your social and business networks. You could even ask your travel agent to stock them.

Child Wise is an Australian charity that puts a great deal of time and money towards child protection in Australia and overseas.
Finally you could put a link to Childwise.net on your email, website or social page. Like these supporters.

Add a link to Childwise.net to show your support for Child Protection and the prevention of Child Abuse.

Supporters of Child Wise.

Sports Injury Clinic.
Sports Injury Clinic treating all manner of sport injuries. Supporting Child Wise by placing a link on their Latest News page.

Man jailed for Thai child-sex played Santa Claus

A US court has handed 19-and-a-half years in prison to a fledgling actor convicted of abusing children as young as six on trips to Thailand and posting the images on the internet.

Wayne Nelson Corliss, 60, was also ordered to pay a $5000 (US$5300) fine.

The federal court in Newark, New Jersey said Corliss would be under supervision for life.

Corliss was arrested in May last year in Union City, just outside New York, after a two-day global manhunt called by Interpol after Norwegian police spotted online images of his sex acts with children as young as six.

He later pleaded guilty to traveling to Thailand annually from 2000 to 2002 with an intent to abuse children and to storing images of child pornography on his home computer, the US Department of Justice said.

Corliss allegedly gained access to the young boys at the home in Thailand of Canadian John Wrenshall, who was extradited last year from Britain to the United States and awaits a separate trial in New Jersey.

The Newark-based Star-Ledger newspaper said Corliss played roles in small theatre productions in Manhattan and at least three movies including the 1982 comedy Waitress.

More recently, he made a living playing Santa Claus at children's birthday parties and fairs, the newspaper said.

It was Interpol's second public appeal for a suspected paedophile, a year after a high-profile operation that reconstructed computer images to track down suspected Canadian paedophile Christopher Paul Neil in Thailand.

Appeal courts quash child sex convictions and slash sentences

A CONVICTED child sex offender successfully appeals their conviction or sentence every five days in Australia, with the average sentence slashed by at least one-fifth.

A news.com.au investigation can reveal that, of the 145 appeals involving child sex offences heard in 2008, 27 people had convictions quashed and 41 had their sentences reduced. Those figures do not include cases where more than two offenders were involved.

Counsellors have criticised the high success rate of the appeals, with one claiming the court system was "basically re-abusing children".

In Queensland alone, 10 child sex convictions were overturned by the judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal last year and jail-time was slashed by an average 34 per cent.

In Victoria, the Supreme Court of Appeal quashed seven convictions and reduced sentences by nearly 30 per cent.

Its New South Wales counterpart overturned five convictions and the average sentence was cut by 21 per cent. Four South Australians also walked off from their convictions on appeal.

In one appeal heard in Queensland, a woman sentenced to 3.5 years for raping her eight-year-old daughter had her conviction quashed because the evidence of the alleged victim, aged 10 at the time of the trial, was not "sufficient".

The girl had said she was in a "dreamlike state" when her mother allegedly entered her bedroom and digitally raped her; gave a slightly different time-frame of when the alleged offence occurred; and could not remember the exact position she was lying in the bed.

Psychologist Joe Tucci, who has counselled children who have seen their abusers walk free from court, said the impact of successful appeals on victims was devastating.

"They feel like they have done something wrong… that it's their fault and that they shouldn't have told anyone," Dr Tucci, CEO of the Australian Childhood Foundation, told news.com.au. "It really shakes their self-confidence and self-esteem."

"Often, the perpetrator will reapply for access to these kids… children end up having contact - and sometimes unsupervised contact - with these people."

While offenders had a high success rate in the appeals courts, prosecutors only managed to get a handful of sentences increased.

In another Queensland case, the prosecutors argued for tougher sentences for two parents who forced their 12-year-old daughter into prostitution in 2004.

The appeal failed in part and the girl's mother could be released from jail next March. The father could be eligible for parole nine months later.

Court documents detailed the lengths that the couple went to in order to find customers - including the creation of a website featuring explicit photos of their daughter which indicated that clients could have sex with her and her mother together.

"After initially trying to minimise his role, (the girl's father) admitted that he had taken digital photographs that found their way on to the website, as well as other photographs taken at other times and places and had played a part in their publication on the website," the documents said.

A diary showed there were 28 bookings for the girl from February 20 2004 to July 9 2004, and documents showed the mother was with the girl when one client arrived, and on the first occasion said to him: "You can do whatever you want."

CEO of the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN), Maree Faulkner, said the penalties for child sex offenders were already too soft before cases reached the higher courts.

"The impact of a child sexual abuse is life-long for the victims," Ms Faulkner said.

"It's a major factor in mental illness, alcohol abuse and drug abuse.

"These crimes have a life-long impact and they are not being treated as seriously as they should."

Dr Tucci said he had been told of instances where offenders appealed their convictions solely to exercise control over their victim’s emotions for their own pleasure.

"They get some kind of gratification out of the fact they can still manipulate them," Dr Tucci said. "It's another way to get at their victims."

He said people had the right to appeal a conviction or sentence, but many abused that process.

A child needed to know that the person who abused them was behind bars - and the longer it took for that to happen the more traumatising it became, he said.

"They’re left in limbo. To a child, this is not something they understand."

Australia's most notorious pedophile, Robert "Dolly" Dunn, had his sentence slashed by one-third, despite being convicted of 24 sex offences and three drugs charges.

In 2004, the NSW Court of Appeal slashed Dunn’s maximum jail term by 10 years. He was originally sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.

He will be eligible for parole in 2015, when he will be aged 74.

'Don't tell mum' abuse ad wins top gong

Controversial ad wins major award Tackles child sex abuse with humour Listen to the ad

A CONTROVERSIAL ad featuring a father who jokes about raping his daughter as the crowd at her 21st laughs has been named Australia’s best radio commercial.

The Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA) ad, written by Steve Dodds, from agency Whybin TBWA in Sydney, was announced the winner of the 2009 Gold Siren this morning.

It contains the following exchange:

Daughter:
Happy birthday to me! Well, today I’m 21 and officially an adult…
So I guess Daddy will have to find another ‘special little girl’

Dad:
I’ve still got your sister! (laughter)

Daughter:
Dad!
Anyway I’d like to thank my parents for having me.......

Dad:
Every night for ten years! (laughter)

Daughter:

Stop being naughty Daddy. You know, I look at you tonight and I still remember the first
words you ever said to me after you raped me…

Dad and Daughter:
… don’t tell Mum! (laughter)

ASCA is a national organisation which works to improve the lives of adult survivors of child abuse throughout Australia.

Is the ad too much? Tell us what you think.

The ad, one of three in a campaign, sparked heated debate on a recent episode of The Gruen Transfer, and has been criticised for being “insensitive”.

But Siren award judge Emma Hill, from agency Clemenger BBDO, described it as “hard-hitting”.

“It was the standout ad in terms of making you stay listening and feel something, even though that something was incredibly uncomfortable. So many radio ads just wash over you and are easy to ignore. This one wasn’t,” she said.

The ad will be automatically entered into the Cannes Radio Lions to be held next month at the Cannes Advertising Festival.


ASCA chairwoman Dr Cathy Kezelman said the organisation was "thrilled" with the impact of the radio campaign and said it spearheaded "real change".

"(The ads) ... confront the long-term legacy of child abuse head-on," she said.

Do what it takes to stop the abuse! - Watching Them